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The government has announced that children will be given a greater voice in the family justice system so they can they can express their opinions about disputes that affect their lives. Ministers say children as young as 10 will be able to make their views known to the judge dealing with their case. It follows
The Law Society has raised concerns that the online service for lasting powers of attorney (LPA) could be open to cases of fraud and abuse. LPAs are well established documents that enable you to nominate someone in advance to look after your affairs should you become incapable of doing so yourself at some point in
Law firms in England and Wales have reported a rise in the number of couples making pre-nuptial agreements. Pre-nups – as they are commonly known – are drawn up by couples before they get married. They state how assets should be divided if the marriage doesn’t work out. A report in the Daily Telegraph suggests
A woman has won the right to inherit some of her partner’s estate, even though she had not lived with him for a long enough period to meet the general legal requirement. The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 states that if a couple are not married they must live together for at
A court has ruled that a director who tried to start an affair with his business partner’s wife was unfairly excluded from the management of a company in which he held shares. The case involved two men who had been close friends and operated their business as a quasi-partnership. Things turned sour when the director
Figures released by the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) have revealed that small businesses are forced to wait longer than large businesses to receive payment. Businesses with turnovers of less than £1m wait an average of 71 days for payment. That is 23 days more than businesses with turnovers of £500m and above, who wait
A dentist who was evicted for being late with his rent has won a legal dispute with his landlord. The court ruled that the late payments did not amount to a repudiatory breach of contract and so the eviction was not justified. The dentist had a contract with the NHS which paid him on a
A public company has been ordered to pay a consultant a commission fee, despite there being no evidence that he contributed to the success of a special business project. In January 2013, one of the company’s shareholders had publicly criticised the board and ordered a meeting with the intention of ousting the chairman. The company
A care home company has successfully stopped one of its former franchisees setting up a rival business and competing for the same clients. The case involved a company that operated several franchises. It also managed various care home branches of its own. One particular franchisee felt that he wasn’t being given enough support by the
A new programme has been launched that will make it easier for UK businesses to apply for patents in China. The pilot Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme will streamline patent applications between the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and their counterparts in China. It means that a business that has obtained a patent in the